Villains are Saved who can be Aware of their being Villains

Shinran（親鸞）, the founder of Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism, once said “Good men can become Buddha, much more bad men.” He affirmed that even bad men could be Buddha absolutely. Hearing this, it is said, some people in those days did wrong things intentionally, claiming that they did it to become Buddha. Since his saying became a social problem, Shinran said “You don’t need to take in poison because there is good medicine.”

affirm 断言する

social problem 社会問題

medicine 薬

What I feel he wanted to say is the importance of recognition and awareness. Those are great who can be aware of their being bad persons, for they have already regretted and repented of his sins. As is common more or less in this world, some people think of their evil deeds as nothing and others something bad. Some neighbors take out their garbage on the days other than fixed ones without feeling guilty, for example. They are not even aware that they are doing wrong things.

recognition 認識

awareness 気づき

regret 後悔する

repend 懺悔する

common よくある

fixed 決められた

Bad men Shinran referred to are villains who are aware that they are villains, not villains others cast stones at. There is a big difference between those who regard themselves as bad and those whom others regard as bad. This World of Reality is a dimension where it’s difficult to distinguish good from bad. Shakuson also told about the difficulty of recognizing things rightly and its importance. He suggested that if people failed to recognize things rightly, they would commit a sin without knowing it and make bad karma, which would affect their afterlives, too.

refer 言及する

villain 悪党

regard 見なす

dimension 次元

sin 罪

afterlife 来世

Then, what should you do? All you have to do is to live according to your conscience while you decrease your negative magnetism around your body by holding memorial services for your ancestral spirits with gratitude to them and being grateful to God. If you admit having done something wrong, you have only to do something good that surpasses the wrong thing. It’s best if you can do something good for others, including your family. If you can also console invisible beings such as your ancestral spirits on this journey called a life, your life is a better one.